Book Detail

If the World Were a Village

Publication Information
Author:  Smith, David J. Illustrator:  Armstrong, Shelagh
Title:  If the World Were a Village Date:  2002
Publisher:  Kids Can Press City:  Tonawanda, NY
ISBN, paperback:  1-55074-779-7 ISBN, hardback:  

Recommended audience:
ABE/ABLE:   Yes ESOL:  
Family:   Young Adult:   Yes
Picture:   Yes

General Information:
Book Type(s):    nonfiction, reference

HSE Descriptor(s):    social studies

Summary:
The author takes the phrase "global village" literally, describing a hypothetical village of 100 people using world-wide statistics on nationality, languages, ages, religions, wealth, environmental conditions and so forth. End pages promote "world mindedness" with many teaching suggestions.

Teaching Ideas:
One MUST have a map, or better yet, a topical globe while reading this engaging tale of numbers. In addition to the geography games and questions for discussion and research given in the book, readers can use the references given to research and add other categories to the village profile e.g. transportation, health etc. This would provide application for a math lesson on statistics. Learners could also make bar or circle graphs for the percentages of characterisitics in the different categories (age, religion etc). Another geography game students can play is to look for the country where an item of clothing is made (look at the manufacturer's label) and find it on a world map. This could lead to a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of economic globalization.

Teaching Strategies:
bullet K-W-L Instruction Strategy
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/k_w_l.pdf
bullet Matrices or Charts
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/matrices_charts.pdf
bullet Think-Pair-Share
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/think_pair_share.pdf
bullet Problem and Solution Outline and Text Frame
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/prob_solution.pdf
bullet Semantic Mapping
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/semantic_mapping.pdf

Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword
bullet Geography > maps
bullet Geography > economics
bullet Math > chart/figure reading
bullet Math > statistics
bullet Geography > environment
bullet Science > water
bullet Communities
bullet Math > problem solving
bullet Math > data


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